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Keck School of Medicine Guidance on Medical Student Participation in Peaceful Protests

As a student you must not convey the impression that you are acting on behalf of the Keck School of Medicine or the University when participating in any demonstrations or protests.  Wearing your white coat in peaceful protest and dissent where it doesn’t violate USC Principles of Community is permissible. USC Principles of Community can be found at: https://studentaffairs.usc.edu/usc-principles-of-community/.

Please also refer to the university policies related to free expression and dissent found in the USC Student Handbook: https://policy.usc.edu/scampus-part-d/.

The Association of American Medical Colleges developed guidance that is endorsed by the Keck School of Medicine. Please see that guidance below. 

Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Student Affairs Guidance

Principles on Peaceful Protests by Medical Students, Residents and Prospective Applicants

The following guidance and resources might aid learners in considering how to engage in and support advocacy to eliminate police brutality and systemic racism and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion for all. This document offers guidance for medical students, residents, and prospective applicants as they participate or consider participating in lawful public protests.

Safely exercising first amendment rights

Understanding legal and professional considerations

  • Familiarize yourself with the local and state laws where you are protesting.
  • Educate yourself about the variations in requirements for applying to medical schools or residency programs of interest as well as those for applying for licensure. It is important to understand what is and might be asked of you at each of these points both in centralized applications and by the individual institutions or programs.
  • Whether you are a prospective applicant to medical school or a current student, consult with the admissions deans and/or your student affairs dean to understand which institutional policies may apply. Take this opportunity as a student and aspiring healthcare professional to learn the implications, positive and negative, of engaging in different types of protest and advocacy.
  • Consider how your behavior reflects your developing professionalism. Commitment to equity and advocacy, cultural humility, and humanism – these are all important elements of professionalism that you can demonstrate through protesting and other expressions of your first amendment rights. Being accountable for your decisions and behavior and watching out for your peers’ safety and well-being are also demonstrating professionalism.

However, it is also possible to engage in unprofessional behavior while protesting lawfully. For example, freedom of speech does not equal freedom from consequences for what one says or writes.

Balancing educational responsibility/obligations with first amendment time

  • Situate your advocacy and activism – whether at the personal/patient, community, or societal level – in the full context of your educational development and professional identity formation. Advocacy is a key skill and responsibility for a healthcare professional but focusing on advocacy and activism at the cost of learning the other knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary to be a capable physician is ultimately self-defeating. Think about how your advocacy and activism inform and might be informed by other aspects of your education and development.
  • Be mindful about how you’re balancing your time between activism and your school responsibilities. In other words, be careful not to become a professional protester unless that is what you are called to do. Then speak with your student affairs/educational affairs dean and arrange a leave of absence and talk through how you will explain how you spent your leave of absence in future applications and interviews.
  • Also, continue to think about your role as a professional. What else are you doing for your own development to understand the historical and current context of social injustices? There are many good resources to read, listen to, and watch to better understand systemic racism, social injustice, and white privilege at the personal, institutional, societal, and systemic levels.

Representing yourself versus representing your school

  • As noted above, familiarize yourself with your school’s relevant policies. Your student affairs dean is a great resource both for explaining the policies and the implications of engaging in different types of advocacy and activism.
  • If you are planning something on school or hospital property or using institutional resources: The student affairs office can help you identify what can and cannot be done, the implications of using school or hospital resources and how to use them appropriately and responsibly, and also help you with any permissions, permits, etc. that you need to obtain.
  • If you are planning to do something independently: know your school’s policies and how they might still apply even if you are doing something on your own time with your own resources.
  • Taking responsibility for learning the policies of your school and being accountable if you intentionally or unintentionally violate one of those policies or local or state laws are aspects of professionalism.
  • Respect the symbolic power of the white coat and its representation of the aspirational virtues associated with medicine – humility, compassion, integrity, accountability, ethics, and humanism. The privilege of wearing the coat comes with responsibilities.

When you wear your white coat, you are representing your school. Familiarize yourself with your school’s policies on wearing the white coat while protesting independently or otherwise not officially representing the institution.

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